In 1896 the State of Tennessee attained its full century statehood. To
celebrate that important event in the life of the State the Tennessee
Centennial Exposition was held in Nashville the following year.
Nashville had long been known as the "Athens of the South" because of
its many schools and colleges and accompanying culture, and it is not
surprising that the director general of the exposition, a man noted for
his culture and love of art, conceived the idea of having as the gallery
of fine arts for the exposition a reproduction of the Parthenon at
Athens.
In the successful prosecution of the work there was no time for research
and study. Relying on existing information, a very creditable building
was erected of laths and plaster in the few months available.
The "Gallery of Fine Arts" attracted so much favorable attention during
the exposition that at its close the people of Nashville, having become
greatly attached to it, insisted that it should not be torn down when
the exposition buildings were destroyed. The Board of Park Commissioners
of the City of Nashville obtained approximately one hundred and fifty
acres of land surrounding the building and laid out what is now
beautiful Centennial Park. Built to last a year, the much loved building
stood for nearly twenty-four years until, in spite of every effort made
for its preservation, it became a greater ruin than its prototype in
Athens.
The Board of Park Commissioners had long had as a cherished objective
the reproduction of the Parthenon in permanent materials. This was an
ambitious undertaking for a city much larger than Nashville, and it was
not until 1920 that the old building was torn down and on its site the
present reproduction of the Parthenon at Athens was begun. Competent
architects, artists, and archaeologists were employed, who devoted the
best efforts of their careers to the work. No effort was too great, no
money was spared, to make the Parthenon as near as was humanly possible
a reproduction of the original as it existed as the temple of Athena in
the fifth century, B.C.
The chief difference between the original and the reproduction lies in
the materials of which they were made. The Parthenon at Athens was built
of Pentelic marble quarried near by, while that at Nashville is of
reinforced concrete finished by a patented process which, under the
influence of electric lights, very closely resembles marble. The
Pentelic marble of the original had a small content of iron, which
became oxidized and the color of the ruin at Athens is now a brownish
yellow from the iron oxide stain.
By the use of concrete in the building at Nashville three important
advantages were obtained: durability, economy, and the privilege of
seeing the Parthenon in two colors. Concrete is the most durable of all
building materials and the most economical. By a careful selection of
materials, the color of the Parthenon at Nashville in daylight is
brownish yellow, the same as the ruin at Athens. This effect was
obtained by using, as the aggregate of the concrete, a brownish yellow
gravel from the bottom of the Potomac River in Virginia.
The Parthenon at Nashville is floodlighted for an hour and a half each
night and is indeed a beautiful sight, one of the most beautiful in the
world; the lighting plan having been carefully designed by the
Engineering Staff of the General Electric Company. A writer in one of
the leading newspapers in America said, "If I am ever so fortunate as to
reach the Pearly Gates of the New Jerusalem, I shall expect to find
nothing more radiantly beautiful than the Parthenon at Nashville at
night."
It is regretted that there was no acropolis on which to locate the
reproduction in Nashville. However, this defect in the setting was to
some extent atoned for by building it adjacent to a small lake and
surrounding it with a beautiful park.
The Parthenon at Athens had no basement, but in the reproduction a
basement was added to house a museum of fine arts. Thus the spirit of
the Parthenon, always a temple of some god, is not violated by the
hanging of pictures on its walls.
Begun in 1920, because of the research necessary to make it a
reproduction of the original as it was in the beginning, the Parthenon
at Nashville required eleven years for completion. The exterior was
finished in 1925, and the Parthenon was thrown open to the public on May
20, 1931, six years having been necessary to complete the interior.
[Illustration: Showing a Section of East Portico with Closed Doors]
[Illustration: Shadows on the Parthenon at Nashville showing the
"Greek Urn" in End of Exterior Corridor]